Brave New Beijing? Dystopian Novel Looks Into China’s Future

Chan Koonchung’s dystopian novel “The Fat Years,” recently published in the U.S., takes on some of China’s most sensitive subjects.

In Chan Koonchung’s dystopian novel “The Fat Years,” which takes place in 2013, a month of history has been wiped out from China’s memory. During that month in 2011, the world went through a tremendous economic, political and social upheaval, far greater than the global financial crisis three years earlier. To maintain stability, China’s government ordered a massive crackdown.

Now, China has emerged as the world’s dominant power, and its citizens enjoy prosperous lives. But in exchange for a wealthy and stable country, the public has accepted a totalitarian regime without question. The story focuses on a handful of friends in Beijing as they try to uncover the events of those 28 days and why China’s people have embraced a collective amnesia.

Mr. Chan’s novel is a minefield of sensitive subjects in China, touching on the government’s relationship with the U.S., economy and trade, religion, martial law, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the restive regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, and more.

“The Fat Years” was first published in Chinese in Hong Kong and Taiwan in 2009, with reviewers comparing it with Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.” It hasn’t been published in mainland China, but that hasn’t stopped it from circulating among certain circles in the country. An English translation was recently published in the U.S.

Mr. Chan was born in Shanghai in 1952 and moved to Hong Kong at the age of four. In 1992, he relocated to Beijing, where he spoke to the Journal by phone.

The book proposes that the people and the government are co-conspirators in China’s authoritarian system.

I am not trying to be soft on either side. It’s not a one-sided criticism. When it comes to the people, they are involved by forgetting willingly. But it’s purely allegorical. It’s not a blanket criticism or a condemnation of a people. It’s a cautionary fable about China. When I was writing the story in the early months of 2009, I was essentially inspired by what was happening in 2008.

You write that the people fear chaos more than they fear dictatorship.

The Communist Party tried to use this idea for the justification of its existence — that without it there would be chaos, because they are the only power that can hold the country together and provide stability. They have the resources and the power to push China into a national revival and further economic growth. The party puts this forward in a way that has been quite successful, and the people are echoing these reasons when they talk about China: “We need the stability, and we need someone powerful enough to make major decisions so China can continue its growth.” So I think I’m reflecting the view of the party and a sizeable portion of the population.

The novel touches on nearly every sensitive political and social topic confronting China today.

This is my intention — to put as many issues into one relatively short novel so that people can have a more holistic meaning of what China is now. I need to do that within the context of a novel.

Why did you make the main character, Lao Chen from Taiwan, an outsider?

Part of it was a literary consideration. I wanted to have a protagonist that I am very familiar with so that his voice could be more authentic. I could come up with a believable character because I know people like Lao Chen very well. He is not a very political person. And it helped to bring out the story in a way I wanted: Because he’s an outsider, he can comment on things [in ways that a mainland Chinese character couldn’t].

Did you intend to write a thriller?

It has some elements of a thriller, but I don’t think it’s a pure thriller. People will be disappointed if they want to read a thriller, but I am aware that I need to have an interesting story that can push the narrative.

Some reviewers have described it as science fiction.

I put the events in the not-too-distant future so I could come up with some fictional events to help me to explain what I felt about China in 2009. It’s a guise that I use to write the story. But almost as a second thought or inadvertently it became science fiction along the lines of a dystopian novel in the tradition of “1984” and “Brave New World.” Speakeasy has more.

Comments (3 of 3)

"The collapse of the Chinese economy would surely lead to a collapse of the Party."

Don't make such assumption as if you know China or anything.

3:44 pm February 13, 2012

Lucifer wrote:

Great book. I am waiting to see what the Beijing paid trolls have to say this time. It will be interesting to see if this book becomes a reality. The collapse of the Chinese economy would surely lead to a collapse of the Party. without checks nor balances, China is destined to seal its own fate.

3:35 pm February 13, 2012

Claude wrote:

Pretty subversive, if he sells too many copy's they'll throw him in jail.